When I first arrived at prison, years ago, I overheard many refer to Prison Industries (P.I.) as “Plantation Industries.” The ribald humor was lost on me, and actually made me feel a little uncomfortable. P.I. may go by many different names depending on the state, but the policy is the same: private businesses contract, or “outsource,” some of their work to prisons. The work may be making soap or processing data, and the prisoners are paid ten or twenty cents an hour. It seemed
to me at the time that most prisoners received little money from home and the yard “hustles,” like drugs or gambling, only brought trouble. When a man is doing long stretches in prison, the extra money makes it more tolerable.
A man who was to become one of my best friends was a shop leader. He referred to himself as “H.N.I.C.” or “Head N .
In Charge.” Yes, he’s Black, and though the jokes seemed a little rough, I am ashamed to admit that it was not until many years later that those words took on a very different meaning while I was researching the history of the U.S. prison system. Let me quote from that paper: With the powerful forces of the Industrial Age in full swing and the abolition of slavery finally realized, the U.S. observed a sharp increase in prison populations, particularly among African-Americans. It is the sad confluence of great knowledge and enthusiasm for the science of mass production, which includes fields such as logistics and operations management, and a group of vulnerable persons. Communities, particularly in the South, found much to be had by incarcerating the former slaves in significant numbers. The birth of large facilities occurred, called reformatories and penitentiaries; nearly 75 percent of all prisoners in the late 19th Century were African-American. Though abolished, the image of slavery continued to live in the use of “chain gangs” hired out to local farmers; these naturally consisted in large part of the recently “freed” slaves – but now these incarcerated men were being housed, fed, and maintained, though poorly, by the taxpayer, not the plantation owner.
A veil had been lifted from my eyes. We are still part of that venal system. I wondered if all the wise-cracking convicts knew how accurate their quips truly are. It would be just one of many bone-crushing discoveries which I would make
during my years of incarceration. First, we can begin to appreciate the disproportionate rates of arrest, conviction, and incarceration among the African-American community. While only one out of every 17 white men should expect to spend time in prison, one out of every three Black men should. Shockingly, the U.S. is still only about 12 percent African-American, but the prison population is over 50 percent Black. The numbers for Latinos are little better
with about one out of every six males finding themselves behind razor-wire over the course of their lives. Though this
phenomenon is not a purely racial one due to the fact that poverty is an important factor in predicting incarceration,
race has been shown in isolation to be an important factor, and with the bulk of the nation’s poor made up of ethnic
minorities, we attribute the disparity within U.S. prisons to an additive effect. As such, when I hear people claim that we live in a post-racial society evinced by the election of the country’s first African-American president, I shudder. We are so very far from being color-blind and egalitarian. Second, we are discussing powerful incentives to incarcerate men and women for extraordinarily lengthy prison sentences with numerous disincentives to release via parole or good time awards. Prisons not only depend upon prisoners to perform innumerable duties to keep these monstrosities of steel and concrete running, but the millions of dollars generated by P.I. contracts are essential to fiscal solvency. These are powerful companies with influential lobbies in Washington, and they are the names you
find in any kitchen cabinet, like Procter and Gamble, Kroger’s, Nestle, and so on. Outsourcing to prisons is a much cheaper method than paying a living wage to a free U.S. citizen. The taxpayer has subsidized the company in effect. And it is still cheaper than shipping the work abroad to India or Malayasia. Rain, sleet, or snow. Often during evenings and holidays. Plenty of hours over the usual 40 per week. I see the P.I. workers hard at it. It is sad to think that the very work which they perform to keep a little food in their lockers may be the very work that is keeping them in prison. I see the bloated prison guards escorting them about and supervising their duties reminiscent of the plantation owners of the ante-bellum days. I often wonder what would happen of all the prisoners just quit. The whole operation would shut down. No P.I. No trash pick-up. No floor-mopping. No library workers. No legal aides. No anyone doing anything. The judge sentenced us to time, not work to keep the entire system propped up. That’s Change you can believe in. As you know, the financial incentives go well beyond P.I. The media produces television, movies, news reports, and music which all sell an idea of crime and prison. Struggling rural communities and their respective businesses jockey for more prison construction to lift them out of penury since the factories and coal mines aren’t coming. Private prisons, like Corrections Corporation of America and Wakenhut, contract with the state to cheaply hold prisoners for a profit with little oversight to how these men and women are treated. Huge corporations, like Aramark and Keefe, service prisons nationwide. And the list goes on and on. So, we must ask ourselves this:
Can a “Just Society” ever allow a profit to be gained from the imprisonment of its citizenry? Clearly and unequivocally, the answer is always No. The monetary profit gained from the lives of men and women is an ill-gotten one and disqualifies any claim to proportionality or fairness in our sentencing laws and claims of rehabilitation.
Prisoners, who are primarily the ones from the most disadvantaged communities of our society, are now further abused within a system which can only be called evil. When the profit motive is added, the equation is forever changed. These men and women are treated little better than common livestock, and the incidences of abuse and neglect continue. Their efforts do not further their desire to return home to their families, but merely feed the insatiable beast of the Prison Industrial Complex – of which U.S. commerce plays a heavy role. It is noble and right to proffer education, vocational training, and rehabilitation to those who have hardly had a chance at a quality of life assumed to be an innate right by the middle class, but don’t pretend to call what happens in prison that. Particularly when we look at prison contract labor, be brave enough to call it exactly what it is: Modern Day Slavery.

If you enjoyed this article, please leave a comment or visit my blog at http://coreyrichardson.blogspot.com

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Prison is not a fun place to be: it’s turned hardened criminals into scared submission, and the daily grind of just sitting in a cell — either by yourself or with a “roommate” you can’t stand — can play tricks on your mind that no nightmare can touch. But a lot of prisoners around the country are allowed very small indulgences, and with the participation of gracious volunteers and many public library systems, getting access to books, computers and legal resources is possible, even for those sitting behind bars. Prison libraries range from institutions that are open every day to books-by-mail programs, but these 10 U.S. prisons are well-known for their contributions to literacy, education, and rehabilitation. Or at least they should be.

Racine Correctional Institution: This Wisconsin correctional facility and reformatory school focuses on using education and positive influences to rehabilitate young people, and encouraging the inmates to experiment with the arts is part of that mission. In 2006, the Racine Correctional Institution Library hosted a poetry slam and competition, and a blog was kept to track the progress of the institution’s Shakespeare Project. Fifteen to twenty inmates studied and rehearsed Shakespeare plays for nine months, working with theater artists and preparing to perform for the other prisoners and for the community.

Read the rest here: 10 U.S. Prisons With Impressive Libraries

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 “As an American incarcerated in Thailand, ‘Chicken Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul’ has given me renewed hope and strength over the feelings of hopelessness, loneliness, and despair. A fellow inmate gave me this book, knowing I needed this precious gift.” – Joe, Bangkok, Thailand

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Almost everyone I meet receives a hug—a hug coupon, that is. My unique calling cards not only provide information about our business but are also redeemable for a hug, a smile, or an act of kindness.

Working with inmates doesn’t make me the most sought after member of social circles, but it does provide an element of interest when I meet people. Other people’s opinions of me don’t ruffle my feathers. Some folks have asked blunt questions like, “You work with prisoners? Why do you stoop so low?” Whenever I hear such comments from uninformed people, I look them in the eyes and think to myself, I’d rather be chatting with an inmate than listening to you right now. Most people are receptive to our work; for them the hug coupons are a constructive icebreaker.

On a trip to Arizona, my wife and I took several tours, including Sedona’s energy vortexes, the Grand Canyon, and the Hopi Indian reservation. Each tour lasted most of the day, giving us an opportunity to get to know the handful of people who shared the experience with us. Two of our guides were Native Americans who helped pass the time during our long drives by describing tribal customs and sharing native folklore.

I gave everyone a hug coupon during our excursions. When our crew realized the connection my wife and I have with prisoners, they revealed aspects of their private lives that under other circumstances would have remained private.

The guide on our first excursion told us about his son who was serving a long prison sentence. A Canadian gentleman seated behind us in the van mentioned that after a gratifying twenty-year career in corrections, he now ministers to inmates.

On the final tour, our Native American guide, George, mentioned that he had been incarcerated. As the hours unfolded, he revealed more about himself, along with local and ancestral history. He seemed almost relieved to be able to talk about what had happened to him years before. He had worked hard to become a successful guide and expert in his field.

Near the end of our adventure, I felt compelled to ask, “What made you turn your life around?”

“One day it hit me. I realized if I wanted to change my life, I needed to forgive the person I hated the most.”

“Who was that?” I asked. Conversation ceased as we focused on what George would say next.

“It wasn’t my mother or father or anyone who’d harmed me. The person I hated the most was the person I faced every morning when I shaved. Every day in prison, when I looked in the mirror, I realized I hated myself. Deep inside my heart, I knew I had to do something about it.”

We waited patiently for George to continue. “Each day I’d look in the mirror and say to myself, I forgive you, and I love you. It felt phony at first. I didn’t believe it, but I felt the need to say it every day. One day I finally accepted the idea that I’m a worthwhile person who deserves to be forgiven.”

As we stepped out of the van, we all redeemed our hug coupons. I think we realized that a loving Spirit in a mystical land had touched us in a unique way, allowing us to make a special connection.

~~
Forgiving the Person I Hated the Most. Reprinted by permission of Tom Lagana. © 2009 Tom Lagana from the book “Serving Productive Time: Stories, Poems, and Tips to Inspire Positive Change from Inmates, Prison Staff, and Volunteers” by Tom Lagana and Laura Lagana. See website: www.TomLagana.com
~~

Tom Lagana is a professional speaker, trainer, author, engineer, and volunteer. He is a recipient of the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service in Delaware and coauthor of “Chicken Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul.” He and his wife, Laura, are coauthors of “Chicken Soup for the Volunteer’s Soul,” “Serving Time, Serving Others,” “Serving Productive Time” and “The Quick and Easy Guide to Project Management.” They present and facilitate workshops, programs, and seminars for inmates and volunteers across the United States. He may be contacted at P.O. Box 7816, Wilmington, DE 19803, phone 302-475-4825, e-mail: tlscorpio02@aol.com, or website: www.TomLagana.com.

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In early spring of 2005 an inmate was assigned by authorities at the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) to work in the Ft. Lyons plumbing shop by virtue of his past experience with remodeling and plumbing. In the course of his assigned duties this inmate, Reggie N. Keyes, R# 56804, ran across warning posters in the maze of plumbing beneath the building.  Having spent 30 years in the remodeling industry he was well aware that the warnings indicated the presence of  asbestos. When undisturbed, asbestos poses no threat to humans in the vicinity.  Through the course of his work with the prison crew, he became aware that the asbestos materials were being disturbed while reconfiguring the hospital facility into a prison facility. None of these inmates had been informed of the risk nor given the proper safety gear to prevent inhalation of the dangerous particles.

Mr. Keyes became aware of a case being presented in court known as the Montez case. The Montez case is a class action suit filed on behalf of inmates within Colorado correctional facilities including various allegations of negligence and abuses. Reggie collected samples of the asbestos material and mailed them to the attorneys working on the Montez case and other attorneys including Judge Richard M. Borchers, Michael W. McDivitt, and others. Of anyone to have correspondence with, Mr. Keyes deduced that the attorneys already mounting a case were the ones he should contact about the gross negligence. The letters including his testimony and the asbestos samples were logged in as “Legal Mail”. Inquiry of these attorneys revealed that no correspondence was received by the intended party.

Information received from the United States Postmaster General confirmed that articles mailed from a prison mail room do not become part of the U.S. Mail delivery system until those items are physically placed in a mail receptacle or into the hands of an authorized mail carrier. Therefore the Office of the Inspector General of Colorado in essence has control of every piece of mail going in or out of any detention facility. This gives the Office of the Inspector General motive and opportunity to prevent Mr. Keyes from providing information to the public of hazardous waste of which the Colorado D.O.C. has been exposing inmates and employees.

May 18, 2005. Mr. Keyes and Mr. Jeffrey Baker were involved in a minor scuffle while loading the plumbing cart for the day’s work-related activity.  Mr. Baker received a shin bark and 40 minutes later Mr. Keyes was arrested. The charge was use of contraband for the misuse of a 3/8 inch all thread, a commonly used piece of plumbers’ equipment. He was tried and convicted for that minor scuffle and ultimately sentenced to 24 years where no injury occurred.

It is Mr. Keyes’ premise that the Colorado Representative for the Office of the Inspector General, Terry Reaves, confiscated Mr. Keyes’ legal mail and used the arrest to move him out of the Ft. Lyons facility and the remodeling job.  The guard overseeing the inmates as they prepared for that day’s activities was Christopher Reynolds. Terry Reaves was seen seated at the prosecutors table at the trial nodding his head in a coaxing manner toward Mr. Reynolds as he gave his testimony. The sworn trial testimony he gave differed greatly from the pre-trial testimony.

Further investigation uncovered that five of the jury members seated on the jury were biased because they knew Terry Reaves or they had family members whose income was derived from employment with agencies directly under the Office of the Inspector General’s control as defined under Colorado Statutes. Another fact that supports the theory that the Legal Mailings which were logged in but were not received by the attorneys is the fact that the USPS Postmaster General provided specific codes that state that “mail from a prison-like facility is not mail until it is placed in an official mail box or a mail carriers’ hands.” Those pieces of logged mail remain under control of the Office of the Inspector General until such time as they are actually placed in a legal mail slot or a mail carriers’ hands.

Jeffrey Baker, the other party in the minor work-related fracas, did not testify but gave Keyes’ former attorney Gail Morrison (a public defender) a statement to the effect that there was no attack. That letter disappeared because the next attorney assigned chose not to put it into evidence. Additionally, Baker did NOT testify although he was called to testify. The judge did NOT explain the lack of testimony. This writer/researcher wonders if the Inspector General’s representative’s presence at the prosecutor’s table had something to do with Baker’s refusal to testify because Baker was paroled soon after the trial. Nearly every person in the courtroom was either directly or indirectly under the influence or direct control of Terry Reaves, Colorado Representative for the Office of the Inspector General.

I have in my possession every element of this statement up to the trial transcripts which are under inspection by Mr. Keyes himself as he prepares a Writ of Certiorari which is due December 10, 2010. Inmates at Ft. Lyons are being exposed to Asbestos and those who speak out are very clearly being retaliated against. Where do we go? Who do we turn to when issues of this magnitude occur? Who helps us to help those inside, who have no voice?

Copies of the postmarked letters can be provided. The originals are available.

Presently, Mr. Keyes has been notified that an investigation into the actions of Judge Michael A Shiferl in the case People V. Reggie N. Keyes #05 CR 84 is being conducted based on Mr. Keyes’ discovery of incidents that took place during his trial. Mr. Keyes is currently preparing Certiorari Pro Se and has not been allowed a liberal pleading by the courts. He certainly could use some guidance and some assistance in telling the story to the public.

To contact Jean Mott and Reggie Keyes, visit Jean’s Facebook page here.

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Philip on the D.C. Prisoner’s Project

“I have spent most of my legal career working on social justice issues. I originally went to law school to do HIV work, and then went on to work for the Whitman Walker Clinic. I eventually became interested in prisoners’ rights, partly because many prisoners had HIV, but also because the more I learned about our prison system, the harder it was to look beyond the very apparent injustices.

“In D.C., we have one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, and many of these prisoners are treated terribly. As a white person, it is hard to overlook the fact that the prison population here is predominately African-American. It has nothing to do with black people being bad and white people being good. It is about who gets caught up in the criminal justice system. Those people are primarily African-American men. At some level, I felt an obligation to get involved. Seven years ago, I became the Executive Director of the D.C. Prisoners Legal Services Project, which is now the D.C. Prisoners’ Project.

“We work on all kinds of issues, from medical care to abuse and assault, from religious issues to parole. Because D.C. is not a state, it creates a lot of added complexities for the prison population here. Currently, D.C. has a jail, but not a prison. Since Lorton Reformatory closed in 2001, we now rely on the Federal Bureau of Prisons to house our prisoners. There was no real reason for Lorton to close. The federal government could have taken it over when D.C. was facing financial trouble. Allegedly, there were all kinds of deals made, and the land is now townhouses. Because of that, D.C. prisoners can be sent to any of the 90-plus prisons around the country, although they try and keep them within 500 miles of D.C. However, it is not uncommon to find D.C. prisoners in California, Colorado, or Texas. For a while, D.C. juveniles were kept in North Dakota. We worked to get that overturned.

“While there are some positive changes, the overall trend with prisoners here is getting worse. In D.C., the police arrest roughly 25,000 people a year. Eighteen thousand of those people go through the jail. Obviously, poorer and African-American communities are disproportionately affected. These areas are so heavily policed that it is hard not to get arrested. My favorite statistic is that D.C. sends more people to prison for violations of the terms of their parole than for felonies. That means that more people go to jail for not actually committing a crime than for committing a crime, which is ridiculous. If we had control over our parole system, that would cut down on thousands of people going to jail. But, there doesn’t seem to be a real interest in addressing these problems.

“Parole is another big issue in the District. When D.C. switched from local to federal control, the U.S. Parole Commission took over control of parole in the District from the D.C. Board of Parole. As a result, hundreds of D.C. prisoners were denied parole because they were now being assessed by different guidelines. When D.C. was in control, a parole board could not take into account your crime, unless it was particularly heinous, when deciding on parole. The parole decision was to be made based on your conduct in jail and your rehabilitation. In the last year, we worked with a number of law firms to release somewhere between 400 and 500 people denied fair access to a parole hearing.

“Hopefully, the more people who visit prisons and understand the horrible conditions in some of these places, the more they will become sympathetic to prisoners’ rights. The people in these prisons are not all monsters. However, many people view them as less than human, which opens the door to do all kinds of terrible things to them. Now, a prisoner can be placed in segregation, which could mean being alone in a sensory deprivation cell with almost no human contact whatsoever for months or years. That is not a humane way to treat people. While they are criminals, that doesn’t mean that we can overlook their basic rights.

“After almost twenty years of working as a lawyer with numerous groups, I can say, oddly enough, that prisoners are the most enjoyable group to work with. They are so grateful for what you do. I do the best that I can for them, but have also learned from my career in public-interest law to set my expectations low and to shield people from the worst of this system. Still, I have seen successes. Every so often, I walk down the street and someone will grab me, shake my hand, and thank me. Sometimes I know the person and sometimes I don’t, but they were someone helped by our program. It is a nice feeling.”

Learn more about the D.C. Prisoners’ Project here.

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prison, crime, law, criminal justice, twitter

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Wrongful Convictions

1. Man who spent 23 years in prison and was exonerated was cleared on a different case | abc13.com
2. Wrongfully Convicted Man Exonerated After 35 Years | TheLoop21.com
3. Review of cases is the right call – JSOnline
4. Charlotte NC Criminal Law: Wrongfully imprisoned man released after 12 years | Justice News Flash | JusticeNewsFlash Release
5. Greg Sebourn: Bill Hunt Helps Defend Innocent Latino While the Union Plays Politics
6. Tyrone Jones case: Prosecutors drop charges against man convicted in 1998 city killing – baltimoresun.com
7. Making book on wrongful convictions – Steve Weinberg – In Justice – True/Slant
8. DNA Clears Potential Suspect In Wrongful Conviction Case | digtriad.com | Triad, NC | Local
9. Time Magazine’s investigation and the rest of the story about wrongful convictions – Steve Weinberg – In Justice – True/Slant
10. Tunnel Vision in the Criminal Justice System | Psychology Today
11. Wrongfully convicted man gets $25K for 13 years – Examiner.com
12. ‘Killing Time’ chronicles the righting of a wrongful conviction – The Boston Globe
13. Grits for Breakfast: Texas’ latest DNA exoneration implicates Houston crime lab
14. Innocence Blog: Alaska Enacts DNA Access Law
15. FayObserver.com – N.C. Attorney General proposes expansion of DNA testing for felons
16. Man Exonerated After 10 Years In Prison – wjz.com
17. Exonerated death-row inmate speaks at Innocence Project reception – Springfield, IL – The State Journal-Register
18. With new DNA results in hand, Perdue pardons exonerated man
19. the charles smith blog: DALLAS COUNTY; TWENTY EXONERATIONS AND NOW THE FOCUS IS TURNING TO DNA CASES. THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS;
20. Wrongfully convicted man expected to receive $1.1 million from state | The Columbus Dispatch
21. State Wants School Record Of Students Helping Convict’s Case
22. Shamai Leibowitz | Pursuing Justice: Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in Hank Skinner’s Petition to Allow Potentially-Exonerating DNA Testing
23. Students’ work pays; prisoner exonerated
24. How many of the wrongfully convicted are in Texas prisons? | CRIME Blog | dallasnews.com
25. wrongful-convictions: In Death-Penalty Cases, Innocence Has to Matter
26. Man Freed After 35 Years – Wrongful Conviction Video
27. Smoke and Mirrors: Meet the Exonerated: North Carolina’s Death Row Part Two
28. Daily Herald | Former cop sues Buffalo Grove, officers over wrongful conviction
29. Fox 29 Investigates: Wrongful Conviction?
30. Melissa Fox talks about daughter, Riley, and the man charged in slaying – chicagotribune.com

Death Penalty

1. Supreme Court to Hear Texas Death Row DNA Case – SEOLawFirm.com
2. DeathPro does NOT mean Pro Death « Death Pro
3. Getting facts straight in Texas murder case | Editorials | Fort Worth, Arlington, Northeast T…
4. Death row inmate Irick wants sentence commuted | tennessean.com | The Tennessean
5. Texas Moratorium Network: Juan Melendez, Death Row Exoneree, to Speak at “Democrats Against the Death Penalty” Caucus at Texas Democratic Party State Convention June 25-26 in Corpus Christi
6. Should the death penalty be imposed in all cases of people convicted of murder?

Other Prison Issues

1. Mark Clements, exonerated alleged Jon Burge torture victim, speaks out on first day of Burge trial (Videos) « Kathy Chaney
2. STATE OF INSANITY | Columbia City Paper
3. Mental Health & Treatment of Inmates | eHow.com
4. Sinking Ship | City | Portland Mercury
5. Fluvanna Review – Need for Prison Reform Urged
6. Politics : Discussions : Joe Arpaio on False McDonald’s Arrest: Take All Brown People into Custody, Release Citizens Later — Mom to Mom Forums Phoenix MomsLikeMe.com
7. Chief: Guard ‘well-intended’ – Omaha.com

prison, crime, law, death penalty, capital punishment, criminal justice

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